The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has posed unprecedented health risks and has led to global economic disruptions. The World Economic Forum (WEF), an international organization that fosters public-private cooperation on global, regional and industry agendas, releasedthis month the “Stakeholder Principles in the COVID Era” (Stakeholder Principles) as part of its COVID Action Platform and called businesses to action stating that, during this time of crisis, “[t]he business community’s contribution: [is] to be leaders of responsiveness and stewards of resilience.” In January 2020, the WEF made headlines by issuing its Davos Manifesto 2020, challenging companies to incorporate stakeholders into their corporate purpose, as well as issuing, through its International Business Council (IBC) a draft corporate sustainability disclosure framework, “Towards Common Metrics and Consistent Reporting of Sustainable Value Creation.” Continue Reading

To help guide public companies in preparing their annual reports and proxy statements for the 2020 season, we examined the climate change and human capital management disclosures that have been provided by the largest public companies in six industries. A key finding is that to date 10-Ks and proxy statements have generally contained only disclosures that are required by law. Nonfinancial information – which may be important to certain stakeholders, though may also be immaterial under federal securities laws – is overwhelmingly limited to standalone, voluntary ESG reports. Our memo looks at broad trends shaping this ever-changing disclosure landscape and what may be to come. Continue Reading

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